


In Stitches

by alessandralee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Minor Injuries, Stitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 11:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2730299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma has a small accident in the lab, and Trip's medical training comes in handy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Stitches

**Author's Note:**

> So Jemma and Trip finally got to interact again in last week's episode and it was a super cute scene that caused a surge in my shippy feelings. I asked for ideas for a Trip/Simmons fic to write and someone suggested a role reversal where Trip had to tend to Jemma's wounds.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

Trip's not sure what to make of it when Jemma pops her head in the door and asks, “Trip, could I borrow you in the lab for a moment.” 

She looks pale and there are tears brimming in her eyes, although he can’t see what that would have to do with the lab, so he quickly excuses himself and joins her in the hall.

“Is something wrong?” he asks, although as soon as he says the words, he sees what the problem is. 

Jemma’s holding a pad of gauze against her right arm and he can see that parts of it are dyed red from blood. That also explains the tears brimming in her eyes. 

“What happened?” he asks almost as immediately after his first question.

Despite whatever pain she’s in, Jemma manages a weak smile, “It’s silly really. I dropped a beaker in the lab, and in the process of sweeping it up I tripped, over absolutely nothing, of course.”

It would be funny, Jemma’s not usually the clumsy type, if not for the blood.

“And you walked all the way across the base to ask me to take a look at it? You didn’t run into anyone else capable on the way?”

Jemma sighs, “Of course I did, but I didn’t want to look foolish in front of them. I’m in charge of the lab, I shouldn’t be having such a ridiculous accident. And you have field medic training, so you’re perfectly qualified to take a look at this.”

Regardless of how embarrassed she is, she should have sent someone to get him rather than walking all the way across the base herself. He doesn’t need any PhDs to know that.

Jemma slowly begins walking back towards the lab, and Trip follows her. He keeps a careful eye on the gauze pad held against her arm, watching as more and more of it turns red. He speeds up a little so he’s walking next to her, just in case she starts to get lightheaded. A part of him wants to just pick her up and carry her back to the lab, but he knows she won’t like that idea.

When they do reach the lab, he ushers her towards the corner he knows she’s set aside for low-level medical treatment. She’s stitched him there a few time, and it has a privacy curtain to spare her the embarrassment she’s gone to such lengths to avoid.

“Don’t say it,” Jemma warns him as she pretty much collapses onto a stool.

“Say what?” he honestly has no idea what she’s talking about.

“Don’t tell me again that I shouldn’t have gone to find you myself,” she clarifies.

Yes, he was thinking it. He’d thought it multiple times on the walk over, actually. But he had no intentions of saying it to her.

“Yes ma’am,” he salutes her and goes about filling one of the small basins piled on the counter with water.

“The anesthetic is in the bottom cabinet, all the way to the left,” she directs him.

He peels off the gauze pad, and she’s silent as he gives her the shot. The way she stares at the needle is a little unnerving, but at least she doesn’t flinch. 

She continues to stare at the wound as he cleans it.

“It’s a shame I’ll have to toss this shirt now, I was quite fond of it,” she says. It’s light blue with small flowers on it, and he’s pretty sure she also owns it in navy.

“If I had a dollar for every shirt I had to throw out because I bled all over it,” he begins.

“You’d have dozens and dozens of dollars,” she teases him.

“And that’s just in the time we’ve been working together,” he grins at her.

She grins back. She looks a little less pale now that she’s sitting down and relaxing. Well, she’s not relaxing so much as she’s watching his ministrations like a hawk.

She hasn’t commented, though, which he takes a good sign. If he was doing something wrong, she wouldn’t hesitate to point it out. Giving medical treatment to a doctor (even if she’s not an MD) is stressful.

“That’s going to need stitches,” she comments once he finishes wiping away the blood and cleaning out the wound. “I figured as much.”

Trip’s field medic experience generally hasn’t involved sutures, they’re a little precise for the environments he usually finds himself in. But he is technically qualified for this, and he’s done it before. It’s just been a few years.

In the end, he’s glad she’s able to talk him through it, and he’s glad he’s good at taking direction. It’s certainly not as neat as the stitches she’s given him, but they’ll do the job. That’s what’s important.

“I can put that away,” she tries to tell him once he’s applied an antibiotic ointment, and covered the cut with a clean pad of gauze.

“Absolutely not,” he insists. He’s seen her dispose of medical waste before (and the containers are clearly and boldly marked) and everything else can be left to one of the other lab workers. “Doctor’s orders.”

She pouts at him, but it’s playful, he can tell she doesn’t actually mind his orders.

“And take the night off,” he tells her. She spends more time working than anyone on the team, bar Coulson, so if he can convince her to take a few hours off then he’s going to try.

She agrees, and he escorts her to the lounge, where he left Skye, Hunter, and Bobbi just a little while ago. 

Halfway there, and it looks like she’s lightheaded again.

Sliding one arm under her knees and propping the other one up against her back, he lifts her into his arms. He doesn’t care if she doesn’t like it, she’ll like it less if she gets another needless injury. And he doesn’t have enough experience with broken bones to take care of her, she’d need one of the other scientists.

He spares her the embarrassment of carrying her into the lounge setting her down just outside the door.

She kisses him on the cheek in thanks before saying, “Don’t do that again.”

It’s all the thanks he needs.


End file.
